The Clock Towers

The Clock Towers (Arabic: أبراج الساعة, romanized: ʾAbrāj as-Sāʿaẗ, lit. 'Towers of the Clock', formerly known as Abraj al-Bait Arabic: أبراج البيت, romanized: ʾAbrāj al-Bayt, lit. 'Towers of the House') is a government-owned hotel complex with seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project, which aimed to modernize the city to better serve its many visitors. The central hotel tower, called the Mecca Royal Clock Tower, stands very tall and is considered the fourth-tallest building in the world. It is also recognized as the tallest clock tower on the planet.

The Clock Towers are very close to the world's largest mosque and Islam's most important holy place, the Great Mosque of Mecca. Building this huge complex cost about US$15 billion. Before it was built, an old fortress called the Ajyad Fortress stood there. This fortress was destroyed in 2002, which upset many people, especially in Turkey.

Description

The tallest tower in the complex is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia, standing at 601 meters (1,972 feet). It is the sixth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. It is shorter than famous buildings like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE and the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The complex is close to the main entrance of the Masjid al Haram mosque, where many visitors come to see the Kaaba. The tallest tower includes a fancy hotel to help visitors staying in Mecca. There is also a big shopping area and a parking garage for over a thousand cars.

Clock

The main tower has huge clock faces on all four sides. These clocks are the largest in the world, measuring 43 meters by 43 meters (141 feet by 141 feet). The clock sits high above the ground, and there is even a special area to help track the moon for Islamic calendar purposes.

Features

The building has a huge clock on top that you can see from very far away—about 25 kilometers or 16 miles. This clock is the tallest in the world, standing higher than 400 meters (1,300 feet) above the ground. Each side of the clock is very large, measuring 43 meters (141 feet) across, and it shines brightly with 2 million LED lights.

On special days, the clock uses extra lights and lasers to create beautiful shows in the sky. The clock faces are made with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics, making them look very fancy. Each clock has the Saudi coat of arms in the middle, and the hands of the clock are extremely long—the minute hand is 23 meters (75 feet) and the hour hand is 18 meters (59 feet).

The spire of the building includes a special glass base called The Jewel, which was planned to help control air traffic but is now used for other purposes. At the very top is a large crescent shape made in Dubai, weighing 35 tonnes and made from special gold mosaics. The building also has loudspeakers that call for prayers, reaching far across the city.